Surge in high-profile child porn cases

Legalbrief reports that a decorated war hero, a former high-ranking political official, and a radio host are among those who have landed in the dock facing child porn charges. A federal judge in San Diego on Monday sentenced Vietnam veteran Wade Sanders to 37 months in prison for possessing child pornography. The sentence from US District Court Judge Thomas Whelan was far less than the maximum term of 10 years, and less than the 63 months federal prosecutors were seeking. Sanders said his compulsion to research the world of child pornography, with the intent of writing on the subject some day, was a symptom of his post-traumatic stress disorder that stemmed from his combat service. Sign On San Diego notes that the law does not allow a research or journalistic exception as a defence to child pornography possession. The Washington Examiner reports that a former high-ranking aide to US Senator Barbara Boxer was sentenced to five years in prison for possessing child pornography. Jeff Rosato received the minimum sentencing allowed under federal guidelines at his hearing. Meanwhile, a radio host and one-time police officer wanted on charges he produced and possessed child pornography has been returned to New Hampshire from California. Mercury News reports that police said they found child pornography - printed pictures and videos on a computer disc - in Aldridge's home. KPTV reports that Portland resident Paul Presley was sentenced in a federal court to six-and-a-half years in prison and 20 years of supervised release. In another case, James Dotts, of Georgetown, Indiana, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 37 months in prison and lifetime supervised release following completion of his prison term. According to a Market Watch report, during the plea and sentencing hearing, Dotts admitted to subscribing to a commercial child pornography Web site, and possessing visual depictions of prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The report says this case was brought as part of an US Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement nationwide investigation called 'Operation Emissary,' which targeted a Web site that offered images and movies of hardcore child pornography. And a month-long crackdown on child porn has resulted in the arrests of five people in Utah, including a former sheriff's deputy. According to a report on KSL.com site, as part of Operation April Fools, agents from the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force tracked down residents exchanging child porn on the Internet. Full Sign On San Diego report Full Washington Examiner report Full Mercury News report Full KPTV report Full Market Watch report Full report on the KSL.com site

Outside the US, there have been other publicised cases. A primary school teacher in Western Australia has pleaded guilty in the Kalgoorlie Magistrates' Court to child pornography charges. ABC News reports that Daniel Hogg was arrested last month as a result of an investigation by the Online Child Exploitation Squad. He was charged with using a carriage service for child pornography and possessing child pornography. In Canada, Lake Oswego resident David Winsor was sentenced to five years in prison for buying and viewing child pornography. The Lake Oswego Review reports that his arrest was part of a national effort to combat child sexual exploitation. Known as Project Safe Childhood, the effort co-ordinates federal, state and local law enforcement to prosecute Internet predators and rescue crime victims. BBC News reports that a jury has finished hearing evidence at an Edinburgh trial of eight men facing child pornography charges. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that two alleged paedophiles abused very young children before passing on e-mail pictures of what they had done. The jury has heard how almost 125 000 images were seized, some of which even shocked experienced investigators. Lothian and Borders Police launched Operation Algebra in August 2007 to investigate a possible paedophile ring after a photograph of a naked boy was found on a paint firm's computer equipment which had been sent for repair. Their inquiries in Britain, the US and other European countries involved trawling through hours of Internet material before the case came to court. The trial continues. Full ABC News report Full Lake Oswego Review report Full BBC News report

Web sites displaying child pornography fell by almost 10% in 2008, but most of those images were still being peddled by commercial sites, an Internet watchdog says. In its annual report, the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said 74% of child abuse Web addresses tracked worldwide were of a commercial nature. According to a report an ITWeb site, of those, three-quarters, some 850 unique domain addresses, were registered with just 10 domain-name registries, which manage and sell Internet addresses. Full ITWeb report Internet Watch Foundation report

Vile images can be erased from a computer hard drive easily enough and the Web sites that cater to deviant perverts can be shut down. But Paul Gillespie can't purge what he's seen from his own memory. The Well and Tribune reports that the former Toronto policeman understood he would pay a price when he agreed several years ago to create and run the city's child exploitation unit. And now that he's a civilian, he uses the images lodged in his memory as motivation to help track down paedophiles around the world and make the Internet a safer place through an international agency he heads. Full Well and Tribune report